


Drowning

by Lwoorl



Series: DC Shifters AU [13]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Transformation, shifters au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 12:15:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20135299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl
Summary: Tim gets stuck at the bottom of the ocean.Shifters AU: See notes of the series to know more, but all you need to know is some people can turn into objects and they're called shifters





	Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Here. Take this 🤲 A reminder I'm still alive and still care about this series. 👐🙌

_ This sucks  _

"I know, I know, just hang in there." Comes Steph's voice and if Tim could grimace he would. He didn't mean for her to hear that. 

He hates using the comm like this. So, so much. 

He knows he shouldn't, in fact he should feel grateful he at least can talk, but it's still a bother. "You just have to think quietly." Dick said once, when Tim asked out of curiosity. Usually that would be easy for him, but it's really hard not to think when you can't do much of anything else. 

_ Maybe I can make it to the surface… _

"Don't you fucking dare!" Shit. Steph heard him again. "Do you have any fucking idea how deep you're right now?! Just wait till I fish you out man!" 

_ Fine _

He feels something soft start touching him. Probably a fish? it's too dark to see… It starts to get itself tangled around him, shit. What is this thing? Is that a fucking sucker? But it's too big to be a squid. Shit, didn't giant squids only live in the  _ really  _ deep parts of the ocean? He can't be that deep, can he-? Ok wait. 6, 7, 8. Oh, an octopus then, although a pretty big one...  _ Gross. _

"Hm? What's it?"

_ Nothing, just some fish  _

"You know, if you truly can't stand it we could call Batman-"

_ No! _

Steph grunts. But doesn't say anything else. 

Time passes quietly, uncomfortably so. All about this is uncomfortable. The darkness, the silence, the stupid octopus around him, the pressure… The pressure is specially uncomfortable, he can feel it even in this form, it's like wearing a really tight latex suit. If he wasn't made of metal, if he was made of glass or other weak material, he probably would have broken by now.

_ This is lonely  _ he thinks, and immediately regrets doing so, knowing Steph most likely heard. 

He's expecting her to call him out on that, but it doesn't come. "I watched a movie yesterday." She says instead. "A romcom, it was pretty good, do you want me to tell you about it?"

_ Sure _

They end talking about tv and the like, even though based on Steph's breathing it's pretty obvious she is still fighting up there, but none of them mention it.

"Ok I'm done here." She finally says after a moment. 

_ Good. Now get me out of here _

"Yeah, sure."

_ ……. _

"......"

_ ……. _

"......"

_ You have no idea how to get me out of here, do you?  _

"I'm… Thinking about something." 

_ Great _

"Maybe, uh, I don't know, a long fishing rod with a magnet at the end?" 

_ Seriously? _

"I'm just throwing ideas here!" She complains. "You could help a little too."

_ Maybe- Ah  _

The octopus on top of him starts to move, dragging him with its tentacles.

"What? What's it, what's wrong?"

_ Remember I told you some fish was touching me? _

"Yeah?"

_ I think it's trying to drag me somewhere. _

"What?! Ok. Ok, don't panic." She says, very panicky.

_ I'm not. It's not like it could make it worse _

"I mean, if it drags you away it'll be harder to get the boat right on top of you so."

_ You aren't helping _

"Sorry! What do you want me to do?!"

_ I don't know, just get me out of here!  _

"How?! You don't want me to call Batman, what else are we supposed to do?!"

_ Ugh  _

"Don't you have, I don't know, some friends you can call?"

_ I don't want to get more people involved in this.  _ The octopus starts moving down a slope, and he feels himself falling some meters down.  _ Fine. Let's call someone. _

  
  
  
  
  


Even after getting to the approximate location, it still takes Kon a good 15 minutes to find the boat, small as it is. 

"I came as soon as I could." He says, as he lands behind Spoiler. She's sitting at the edge of the ship, one feet touching the water. 

Upon seeing him she stands up while pocketing her phone and earphones. It takes a moment for her to take them off, as she has one of them tangled around one ear in a weird way, so she can wear them without taking off her communicator. "What's the emergency?"

"We dropped an important object during a mission in this area." She starts to explain. "It's at the bottom of the ocean right now. We called you because we need to retrieve it." 

"Can't Batman get it?" He asks, out of pure curiosity. He's pretty sure the bats have a bat-submarine, don't they?

Spoiler's heart jumps at that. He isn't trying to hear it, it's just too loud to miss. "He's busy." She says, very obviously lying. 

"What is this thing I'm supposed to look for?" He raises an eyebrow, getting suspicious. And where is Tim anyway? He was the one who called him.

"It's a staff."

"Like, a magical staff?" 

"No, it's a metallic one, just, a metal stick. Red. You know the kind that Robin uses?"

"Ok, is this some kind of prank?" He frowns and crosses his arms. "Or did you seriously call me to pick up a lost weapon. And where is Robin anyway?" 

"No, see, it's really important, but I can't-" She stops, listening to a voice in her comm. Kon recognizes it as Tim's, but even with his super hearing he can't make out the words. 

"Is that Robin?" He asks, even though he already knows. Spoiler just ignores him.

"Are you sure you want me to tell him?" She says. At the other end of the line Rob says something else Kon can't make out. "Ok. If you say so." 

"What's going on?"

She sighs "Ok, so." She starts, making a face. "I don't know how to say this, but the staff we're looking for isn't Tim's, the staff  _ is  _ Tim." 

"...Come again?" Kon blinks.

"So you know how some shifters-"

"Tim is  _ what?"  _ He has to exclaim, before getting hit with another, more urgent realization. "And he is  _ where?!"  _

"Um, around this area." She says, gesturing around her. "At the bottom… Some octopus tried to drag him away so he might have moved-"

"How did that even happen?!" 

"Yeah. So, the guys we were fighting with tried to drown him, but luckily-"

"Luckily?! He's at the bottom of the ocean!" 

"I mean, he didn't drown." 

Kon grunts and passes a hand through his hair. "Jesus." 

"You know, I think it might be better if you just talk with him." Spoiler says, while taking off her earpiece and handing it to him. Kon hesitates a moment before reaching for it and putting it on. 

"Hi." Comes Tim's voice.

"Hey… So, you're a shifter?"

"Yes… Please don't be mad I didn't tell you." He says. His voice weirdly vulnerable.

"Uh? No, I'm not mad." He answers honestly. At this point he's too used to bats and their secrecy to get angry about every single secret. Maybe a bit frustrated he learned it this way. 

Instead of being reassured with the answer. Tim growls. "Ugh. I didn't mean for you to hear that. It's really hard to filter stuff when using the comms in this form." 

"Huh." Kon finds himself smirking. "So you're without filter right now?" 

"Shut up." A sigh. "Just take me out of here please. This sucks, I can't move or see anything and I think something tried to eat me at some point." 

"Of course. Right away." As much as he would love to tease Tim right now, he also would like for him not being at  _ the bottom of the fucking ocean  _ a bit more.

"I can sinc you to his tracker if you wanna." Spoiler speaks again, extending a hand for him to return the earpiece. "But that only gives you an approximate location and we already know he's around here, might be faster if you just use your thermal vision."

Finding Tim, as it turns out, isn't really hard. As Spoiler said, he's close to the boat, an octopus sleeping on top of him, and not too far away there's a set of chains and a brick, which explain how the fuckers got him to sink. 

He swaps the animal away and picks Tim up. It's a bit weird, he's really warm, way more than Ma when she turns into an umbrella, although that might be because with the cold water around him it makes it seem like he's warmer than he really is. 

They are barely breaking into the surface when Tim shifts, and Kon has to fumble not to let him fall out of the surprise. He starts coughing water, and by the time they're back on the boat and Spoiler starts rubbing his back he's breathing heavily. 

"Thanks." He croaks, once he's good enough to speak.

"Yeah, don't mention it." He shrugs. 

No one says anything after that, and he considers just leaving, now that stuff is sorted out, but curiosity takes the best of him. "I still want to know, couldn't Batman have saved you?" He asks, and at Tim's raised eyebrow adds. "Not that I mind helping, just saying. I just thought he would try to solve stuff without help first." 

"Batman doesn't know he's a shifter." Spoiler answers and now it's turn for Kon to raise an eyebrow. Tim frowns at her. 

"Look." He sighs. "I'm going to explain it to you later, yeah? Just not now." He massages his throat. "Now could anyone hand me a glass of water? I'm dying." 

"More water, after all that?" Kon jokes. They push him out of the ship. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was gonna be _way_ more angsty at first, as you would expect for a story about Tim almost drowning and then getting stuck at the bottom of the ocean. But along the way it turned out pretty light-hearted. The creative process truly is a curious beast isn't it?
> 
> Please remember to comment!!! ✨✨✨✨


End file.
